For the third time in seven weeks, Britain announced a new prime minister. After being elected at the beginning of September, former Prime Minister Liz Truss lasted only 45 days before resigning from office, leading to Rishi Sunak taking over as the leader of the Conservative Party. The former Finance Minister is not only the new resident at No. 10 Downing St., but he is also the first Hindu Prime Minister. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Sunak sought to be prime minister. He campaigned against Truss and even led at times, but a late surge caused Truss to prevail. Now, with Truss out of office and Boris Johnson turning away from the position, it seems that Sunak finds himself exactly where he wanted to be. The only problem, he takes over during a time of economic turmoil and political unrest.  

According to USA Today, “Former finance minister Rishi Sunak completed a political comeback Monday when he was selected prime minister by Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, just seven weeks after he was beaten to office by Liz Truss. Sunak, 42, will be the fifth British prime minister in six years, the third in less than two months. He is Britain’s first Hindu prime minister and the country’s first leader of color.”

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The outlet detailed how Sunak was able to win the position so quickly, adding, “He won an internal party contest to be the country’s new leader following Truss’ Oct. 20 resignation. Her tenure was the shortest ever for a British prime minister and was marked by economic turmoil. British voters elect a party, not a specific leader, meaning the ruling party has latitude to change a prime minister without calling an election. Because Sunak won the party contest, he automatically becomes prime minister.”

Piers Morgan celebrated the announcement, tweeting, “Rishi Sunak is new UK Prime Minister. He’ll be the first British-Asian PM & first Hindu PM, and at 42, the youngest PM in modern times. I’ve backed @RishiSunak for a long time, think he’s the right guy for the job, and wish him every success.”

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Posting a message on Twitter, Rishi Sunak didn’t shy away from the problems facing the United Kingdom. “The United Kingdom is a great country, but we face a profound economic crisis. I want to fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country.”

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It should be noted that both Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson were once close. Sunak operated as the finance minister to Johnson. That was until accusations started surfacing around Johnson. Then Sunak did more than resign, he helped hold his former boss accountable.

Besides politics, Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murthy, received a mountain of backlash after they were accused of not paying millions in taxes. Thanks to Murthy’s father and NR Narayana Murthy, the couple sit on a fortune worth around $825 million. 

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